The Executive Office’s expenditure of hundreds of thousands of pounds on hospitality at its foreign bureaux in Brussels, China and Washington has been branded “deeply troubling”.

The department headed by First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has spent more than £600,000 in the last five years on hospitality – defined by the Northern Ireland Civil service as “meals, beverages, light refreshments and entertainment of any type provided out of public funds”.

More than half of that spend was incurred by TEO’s three overseas bureaux, which the department uses to “promote Northern Ireland as a great place to live, work, invest and study”.

The figures were revealed by the First and Deputy First Minister following an Assembly Question from DUP MLA Diane Dodds.

Of the £600,000 spent by TEO on hospitality since 2020, by far the highest spender was the Northern Ireland Bureau in Washington DC, which totalled £281,761.

The NI Executive’s Brussels Office has spent £114,212 on meals in the last five years, including a spend of more than £35,000 in the last 12 months. The China Bureau has spent more than £42,000 since 2020.

The three foreign bureaux combined have spent £438,698, almost three times as much as the rest of the department at £161,347.

A spokesperson for TEO said the hospitality spend was justified and helps to “realise tangible benefits for people here”.

“The Executive Office has three overseas offices; the NI Bureau in Brussels, the NI Bureau China and the NI Bureau Washington.

“The work of the bureaux includes promoting Northern Ireland as a great place to live, work, invest and study, and developing mutually beneficial relationships to support delivery of the Executive’s Programme for Government and realise tangible benefits for people here.

“Details of departmental spending, including bureaux activities, are publicly available in the Annual Report and Accounts, which are published on the TEO website.”

TUV MLA Timothy Gaston has described the figures as “deeply troubling” and added that they “speak volumes about misplaced priorities at the very top of Stormont”.

“Stormont is constantly pleading poverty when it comes to core services, yet it appears there has been no shortage of money for receptions, events and hospitality abroad,” Mr Gaston said.

“Even more remarkable is the fact that more than half of that sum was spent through overseas bureaux in Brussels, Washington and China.

“The question that must be asked is very simple: what exactly did the people of Northern Ireland get in return for this level of entertaining?

“I have consistently said that hospitality spending has its place but must be tightly controlled, transparently reported and rigorously justified. It is not a perk of office, it is public money — and every pound spent should be capable of being defended to a nurse, a teacher or a pensioner who is being told that budgets are exhausted.”